Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-05-06
TuECHEsAPEAKE's COMMANDER


THE CHEsAPEAKE's sCOanANDER
The Charges Against Captain Eos.
ter to be Investigated.
On Wednesday Senator Dalton, of
Norfolk, and Delegates Wilkins, OF
Northampton, and Curlett, of Lancas-
ter, were appointed, under joint reso-
luton, a legislative committee to in
yestigate certain charges against Cap
tain Seth Foster, commander of the
Commonwealth oyster. steamer Chesa-
peake. A member of the committee,
in conversation with a Dispatch re-
porter, said yesterday that he expected
they would hold the investigation some
time in July either at Norfolk or Old
Point or somewhere in that vicinity.
A letter written to Governor Lee,
who is by virtue of his Office presi-
dent of tie Board on the Chesapeake
and its Tributaries. by H. G. Bland,
chairman of the Democratic Committee
of Gloucester county. on the 2lst Of
February. led to the investigation. He
in lengthy communication called the
attention of the board to the following
reports. which, he said, were being cur
rently circulated, and which he thought,
in Justice both TO the States oyster
navy and the captain. should be lnyes-
tigated
/. That the steamer is allowed to lie
in East river ten or twenty days while
dredgers work with impunity at their
trade near Gwynn's island, in Wicomico
river, and other places where dredging
is profitable.
.. That Captain Foster is so near
blind that he cannot see vessel or
person over forty or fifty yards, and
that he is olor-blind, and in consc-
quence thereof unft for the position
to which he has been appointed.
3. That for money he tows vessels
from Norfolk and other points to Mob
jack bay, Gwynn's island, and other
places.
Mr. Bland also sent to the board the
following list of witnesses Captain
Alexander James, Mathews Court
house, who will testify to the Captain S
unfitness and the correctness of the
first charge ". NJ. Bridges, Cobb's
creek, Mathews county, who will bear
testimony to the widespread dissatisfac
ton that exists in his county and
the manner in which Captain Fos-
ter attends to duty; Robert f.
Hudgins, by whom it is proposed to
show that there are frequent violations
of the law by dredgcrs who are undls-
turbed r. c. Booker, Sandy Bottom,
Middlesex county; George Sweenes
and Thaddeus Hodges, of New Market
who will testify to the frequent towing
Of vessels on the Rappahannock river /:
Dick Tader and Lester Claiborne. o.
New Market, that when the Lass
dredger was captured they went TO
Mathews county after Captain Fos-
ter, and that when they reached East
river they found the steamer anchored
and the captain and crew had gone t.
their homes, from where they had to
he gotten before the dredger was
caught Isaac Russell, Carter's creek,
who is said to be in possession OF some
damaging facts ; Charlie Thomas, Sc
vern, who will testify yas to the towing Of
vessels from Norfolk, and Captain Fos-
ter himself can tell that all of the men
employed on the steamer, with one eX-
ception, are from Mathews county.
On the other hand, Captain Foster
has many witnesses, and he and his
friends are confident that the most rigid
examination will not only thoroughly
exonerate him, but show that the State 5
oyster navy is now in better condi-
ton than it has ever been before.
Judge J. S. Garnett, of Mathews
county, under date of February 2Sth,
one day before the board intended
holding the investigation, wrote to the
Governor that the first charge was
without foundation. The boat anchors
in sight of bis house, and has to pass
lust in front of it whenever it goes
up into the river or out that it
regularly arrives in the river Satur-
day and leaves Monday, never vary
ing except when kept in the har-
bor by the weather. The writer
was prosecuting attorney for sixteen
years until January last, when he as
cended TIE bench, and he says he never
knew such protection of the oyster
navy as at present, the unlawful dredg-
ing having been almost broken up.
He utterly refutes the statement made
by some that Captain Foster has gene
rally delivered Republican voters in
carrying out an alleged corrupt bargain
with Ex-Governor Cameron.
Among the numerous other letters
yindicating Captain Foster IS one from
Mr.. A. J. Miller, justice of the peace
of Mathews county and chairman of the
County Democratic Committee, who
has known him for twenty-five years,
and says that his character is without
blemish.
This committee will submit its report
to the Board on the Chesapeake and its
Tributaries, which attempted an in
vestigation, but was not able to secure
the attendance of witnesses. For this
reason the matter was brought to the
attention OF the General Assembly, and
committee appointed with power tc
send for persons and papers.